DAY-TRIP TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

On the bus from Windhoek to Cape Town, I met a Korean girl, Rami (nicknamed so because of her love of ramyon – Korean instant noodles). Rami had just finished eight months volunteering as a nurse in Ethiopia and was planning to travel South Africa before returning home.
My plan for Cape Town was very simple – get drunk! But Rami’s plan of training it down to Simon’s Town, renting bicycles and cycling to Cape of Good Hope – the most south-westerly point of Africa sounded fun and adventurous. And I figured it might be best to do some sightseeing before the hangovers started kicking in, so I invited myself along.
Of course after checking into my hostel, meeting a very lively Italian roommate, being “dragged” to the bar and meeting some red-eyed Moroccans, the idea of a 6am rise didn’t seem like such a good one. Luckily the twenty-two hour journey from Namibia had made me so tired that I was forced to bed early and meeting Rami on time was possible.
Koreans are great planners. I’m not sure if it’s genetic, if it’s a result of the mandatory military service, or just comes from growing up in a group-oriented culture. But most Koreans I know are punctual, well prepared and well-informed about what they are about to do. And Rami seemed to be no different. She had informed me that the train to Simon’s Town takes seventy minutes – correct! And that we should take the Metro-rail “plus” car on the train as it’s safer and more comfortable – correct! (we found out the hard way). And Rami also informed me that the cycling takes about 3 hours round trip. INCORRECT! Very incorrect indeed. I’m not complaining though; it was a great day; I’m just saying.
The train ride to Simon’s Town was lovely – very beautiful. Once we got out of Cape Town the journey was all coastline and we had chosen seats on the left side, thanks to well-informed Rami, which gave us great views in the early morning light. Heading south along the coast we passed many small beaches with people and families already swimming, sunbathing and playing at 8am.
Approaching Simon’s Town we passed lots of small, brightly coloured huts/shacks along the beach which brought big smiles to our faces.



Simon’s Town itself is very pleasant. A lovely place to stroll around with pastel coloured hotels lining the small main street and looking like they’d been taken from an English beach town a hundred years ago. I doubt there is much nightlife, though we did see a couple of youth hostels so there’s probably something going on in evenings.



Rami had read that there were bikes to be rented from one of the hostels so we walked there. No luck, so we went back to a tour agency at the train station. No luck there either. They advertised bikes and it was well past opening time, but the manager hadn’t shown up and the two members of staff waiting outside refused to phone him saying “if the manager’s late, who are we to call him asking why he’s late?” Hmm, interesting attitude, but their loss I guess. Finally we found a little biltong (South African dried beef) shop which had a couple of bikes to loan out. After getting the price down from 150Rand per bike to 100Rand (and later seeing on the disclaimer forms the price 80Rand!) we embarked on our “three hour” return trip. We set off at 09:47.
The ride was pretty nice and a little ways out of town we headed down to the beach which has a penguin colony that you can swim near. Neither Rami nor I fancied paying 45Rand for this pleasure so we saw what we could without paying admission and then continued further south.



The roads were very quiet and the drivers that did pass us were much less aggressive than those I’ve encountered in other part of southern Africa. However, the hills were something to be reckoned with. Luckily the bikes we great, our loads light and we had a nice cool ocean breeze most of the way.



Except for a brief “apple-stop” and to take a photo or two, we just persevered until reaching the gates to the national park (it’s part of the Table Top Mountain National Park) where we had to pay a whopping 90Rand (over 6 pounds) just to enter. My requests for cyclist, backpacker or an adolescent discount didn’t even get a smile from the cold-hearted attendant at the gate, so we forked out the cash and cycled the remaining 12.5km to the Cape of Good Hope. We were both already tired, but Cold-heart had told me most of the road was flat until the Cape so that consoled us. And it is a very beautiful part of the world with an abundance of black lizards and some roadside ostriches which distracted us from our burning thighs.



There are two places that people visit here – Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Rami decided it was best to see Cape of Good Hope first as it’s meant to be very scenic and also very famous. The distance between the two places isn’t great, but the road takes a long and backward detour so it’s a bit of work on bicycle.



Reaching the Cape of Good Hope was bittersweet. We were happy to get our photo there and climb the little view point, and we also got lots of compliments on our adventurousness/stupidity from the large tour bus groups and car drivers. However, we knew it was still another few kilometres cycle and long hike to Cape Point. So we couldn’t hang around long. We took the road back the way we came and then cut across to Cape Point, both of feeling very tired and hungry by this time.





When we finally reached Cape Point car park, the last thing we wanted to do was start a ninety-minute hike, so we opted for lunch first and decision making second.
The restaurant was great. I couldn’t fault it. Of course it wasn’t cheap, but it definitely wasn’t expensive. The location was perfect, service fantastic and food delicious and promptly served. The ostriches we’d passed en route has me salivating so I chose the ostrich burger. I’d eaten ostrich before and vaguely remember it being “ok”. This however was delicious – lean and full of flavour and served with a strong cheese and sweet chutney. The waiter also kindly replaced the chips with a salad as I was feeling guilty about yesterday’s fish and chips. The salad was also wonderful with its olives, feta cheese and plenty of tomatoes. Two thumbs up for Two Ocean’s Restaurant!





After a more-than-satisfying lunch we debated the ninety minute hike to Cape Point and decided against it. The debate went a little like this:
Rami-“blah blah blah because blah blah blah”.
Me-“No, no, no, no, no, no.”
Rami-“Ok.”
There was also an option of paying 48Rand to take the chair lift. Rami tossed a coin to see if this was a good idea and the coin said no just as our wallets said “Yeah!” So we started the long cycle back to Simon’s Town.
The ride back was not easy, but we both endured and Rami, in true Korean spirit, didn’t complain or admit her exhaustion until we made it back to Simon’s Town at 17:31, just in time to return the bikes. I had hoped to stop for tea at a little sea-facing Tibetan Tea House we had passed on the way, but it closed at 17:00, so that will have to wait for another time. It’s definitely somewhere I’d like to visit though. It’s such a strange and magical concept – a Tibetan Tea House on the outskirts of a tiny South African town, perched on a hill facing the sea where two oceans meet and penguins swim. It’s gotta be good!



We caught the 17:48 train back just in time. We jumped aboard as the doors closed only to realize that we weren’t in the Metro-rail “plus” (kind of like first class) car that we’d ridden on the way. But it was too late to change. The train car got busier and busier and although I didn’t feel in any danger, I certainly didn’t feel comfortable enough to take a well-needed nap. There was a local man shouting about god and his past sins for the whole journey as well as a young white guy chatting up a stranger about Genesis and god’s goodness in the seat next to us. And more than a few sketchy-looking characters glancing at the conspicuous Asian and white guy obviously far from home(s). But we made it back to Cape Town without incident and happily tired from a nice daytrip.
I calculate we cycled for about five and a half hours and that was at a good speed. And I would definitely recommend this route on bike because it’s so scenic, there’s very little traffic, fresh air and plenty of nice places to stop for photos or snacks. However, since the cycle time is so long, there isn’t really enough time to fit in the hike to Cape Point, which many people may want to do. So staying in Simon’s Town (which is definitely worth an overnight stay anyway) and renting bikes until the following day would be the best idea. Another suggestion is to bring snacks and we didn't pass any stores along the way.